Welcome to my living textbook on new media writing!

This is my second blog post for the Reflective Writing Club sponsored by the Online Network of Educators. The writing prompt asks us to reflect on our experiences attending conferences.

Conferences, for me, have always been the ultimate niche experience for whatever professional role or academic interest I am embracing at the moment. The first conferences I attended were specifically designed for alumni magazine editors, set in glamorous hotels in cities such as New Orleans and Montreal. One of my favorite keynote addresses was at one of these conferences when Susan Orlean shared her immersive approach to storytelling. This was shortly after the release of movie Adaptation, which was based on her book The Orchid Thief. Since that moment, I have been sold on conferences.

Now, as a community college professor, conferences are not just for inspiration, but opportunities to be a scholar and have the types of conversations I had in graduate school. With a 30-credit contract and a promotion process that values service and teaching, academic research is not a priority. We live in the world of practical application, caught in an endless cycle of grading, meetings, and emails, and do not get much space for ideas and theories. It’s difficult to find the time to blog, let alone write full research articles. The closest I am able to get with the demands of work and parenthood is conferences.

When I was five months pregnant, I presented at my first big conference, Computers and Writing. The presentation was based on one of my graduate seminar papers, “Ubuntu and the Open Source Movement: Decolonizing Interfaces.” I achieved my peak of academic coolness at this moment. Nowadays, I try to blend the high theory of my doctoral studies with what is happening in my classrooms, creating presentations on online service learning and supporting multiple literacies in writing centers. As an attendee, I gravitate towards sessions that offer both sources to explore and assignments/lessons to try.

While I enjoy the traditional conference setting, I also enjoy the conference-like experiences I am getting online through MOOCs, such CLMOOC, Twitter Chats, and this networked blogging experience. In many ways this feels like an open panel at a conference, where each of us takes turns speaking about our particular experience on a topic, and viewers who choose to “walk in the room” can listen and chime in when they have something to add to the conversation. I look forward to any comments you would like to share on this topic.